Various types of equipment are used to create food bars, such as cereal bars and snack bars. These cereal bars are generally held together by a binder such as corn syrup and other similar type of syrup ingredients (e.g., sugar, fibers). The binder may be heated and then added into the dry cereal mixture to assist in the blending process. The combined cereal is then formed into a wide slab by a forming and shaping device, which presses the combined cereal mixture through one or two rollers.
When the combined, cereal mixture is inserted through the rollers, the rollers may create the necessary pressure and cohesion to hopefully keep the combined cereal mixture together within the slab. These rollers are generally affixed at a certain location of the forming and shaping device and generally consist of one to two rollers. Additionally, these rollers are generally positioned above a conveyor belt, such that the rollers press the cereal base mixture against the conveyor belt when the combined cereal mixture enters the rollers. As a result, conventional bar shaping machines create wide slabs of fixed sizes and shapes (e.g., squares, rectangles) and sometimes do not provide the necessary cohesion to deliver a slab with increased density.
One common example is the Werner-Lehara bar extruder, which generally comprises one to two rollers and a conveyor belt. These rollers are generally positioned stationary above the conveyor belt, such that the combined cereal mixture is pressed against the conveyor belt. Once the combined cereal mixture enters the rollers, the combined cereal mixture is pressed against the conveyor belt and is extruded into an elongated and wide slab. Given that the rollers are fixed above the conveyor belt, the size, shape, and density of the combined cereal mixture are generally fixed. Thus, the Werner-Lehara bar extruder does not always provide the necessary cohesion to deliver a slab with sufficient density.
Other machines, however, exist that have movable rollers. But, the ability to move these rollers of these machines are for the sole purpose of cleaning and sanitation rather than varying the pressure or formation of the cereal bar. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,178, issued to Simon A. Whysall, discloses one or more movably mounted rollers. A pair of the rollers are positioned and affixed at a movable support mount, wherein the support mount is configured to shift along a pivot. When the rollers need to be cleaned, the support mount and rollers are pivoted to provide better access to the rollers for cleaning. Thus, the movability of these rollers do not provide a mechanism to obtain an increased/decreased density of the food bars.
Therefore, there remains a long felt need in the art for a food forming and shaping device that forms food bar slabs of varying densities and shapes. Preferably, the improved forming and shaping device will provide adjustability for the necessary bar cohesion for a variety of types of ingredients to be mixed and formed into a food bar.